It is hard to fully understand the magnitude of suddenly losing a child to a preventable disease, people often say that if it happened to them they would fall to pieces - but the reality is that life continues and you must find a way to continue too. That is something that Catherine and Greg Hughes have achieved with great difficulty, by channelling their grief, frustration and anger into a campaign for change.

Riley Hughes was just three-weeks-old when he began to display symptoms of whooping cough, he was only 32 days old when the disease tragically ended his short life. Since then, the Hughes’ have channelled every spare minute into fighting for better awareness and immunisation programs in Australia. And they have achieved so much in a short time. They’ve brought about the introduction of the third trimester pertussis vaccine for pregnant women, they’ve helped new parents understand the importance of shielding their newborns from unvaccinated people until they are old enough to receive their immunisations, they’ve launched the immunisation Foundation of Australia – this is a couple with two young children, they are not rich in terms of time nor money, but they continue to give both to their cause.

Who could possibly be against this mission?

Take one guess. Yes, you got it. Anti-vaxxers have harassed the Hughes family almost from day one. From awful comments and messages to outright lies and conspiracy theories about the family working for “big pharma” and suggesting that Riley’s tragic death was the work of the government. In short, ridiculous claims from ridiculous people that really don’t deserve publicity. The family try their best to avoid them, but sometimes that’s just not possible. This week, a group of known anti-vax campaigners created a page using Riley’s name and image with the sole intention of attacking the Hughes family. It was an incredibly painful thing for the family to see.

A screenshot of the page that is publicly harassing the family. Source: Facebook.

"When I was alerted to this page last night, I was pretty appalled but I wasn’t shocked,” Catherine told Kidspot. “Anti-vaccine activists often use this technique, of harassing and lying about parents who have lost children to diseases, in an attempt to silence us, or to make us go away.”

“We’re not the first family who has spoken up in support of vaccination to be attacked like this and we won’t be the last. It’s a pretty disgusting thing to do,” she said.

The family is tired of the constant lies and abuse coming from those who are against vaccination.

“Usually we try to ignore most of the anti-vax hate, but this page was just so offensive," Catherine said. “To claim that we are funded by pharmaceutical companies is beyond ridiculous."

"We advocate for immunisation because we love our son, and because we don’t want it to happen to anyone else – plain and simple.”

“We have set up a charity (the Immunisation Foundation of Australia) and are run purely by volunteers – nobody draws a wage. In fact, we have made some pretty significant financial sacrifices in order to continue to advocate for our son and for other children at risk of these preventable diseases," she said.

“So for this page to lie about us, yet claim to be “factual” – it’s just so ludicrous. We had to speak out."

The family believe we are all entitled to an opinion, but facts are not up for debate - and the facts are, vaccines save lives.

“At the end of the day, they are only damaging their anti-vaccine movement by acting with such cruelty,” Catherine said.“We will never give in to the harassment because our goal is too important. We will hold our heads high and continue to honour Riley’s legacy because children deserve the right to have happy and healthy lives."

Riley's big sister Olivia was very excited to choose her own Heart Pendant from our fundraising range thanks to Nibbly...

We owe Riley’s parents a big thank you, so it’s time to help

What these people are doing is cruel, it’s unfathomably cruel. It is natural to want to respond to these disgusting actions, but right now, I’m asking you to rise above it, to not give in to what they want – don’t say their names, don’t abuse them back, don’t troll them online, instead, step up and join the Hughes’s fight – do it for Riley and all the other kids taken to soon, do it so there aren’t more of them.

When they go low, go high. Channel their vitriol into good and every time you see them acting like this reach out to see how you can help.

Here’s one simple way: Light for Riley have teamed up with the team from Nibbly Bits to launch their first ever fundraising product. These gorgeous silicon heart pendants come in a variety of colours and $7.50 from each sale will go to the Immunisation Foundation of Australia. It’s a great cause and a great way to show the trolls that those who are fighting for public health have got heart. Check out Nibbly Bits to grab one and show Riley's family that we are all behind them.

❤️💛💚💙💜🖤❤️💛💚💙💜🖤❤️💛💚
HEART PENDANT FUNDRAISER LAUNCH // I'm so excited! 😀 Today we are teaming up with the award-winning...

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